Flat Spins Can Happen in a Flash

This has been the summer of Maverick. It broke the sound barrier of movie sales and tested everyone’s adrenal gland functionality with its sizzling cinematography.

I revisited the original Top Gun a few weeks ago. Tom Cruise (Maverick) and Anthony Edwards’s (Goose) pairing is kismet. They’re aces of the sky, fearlessly executing their training with confidence and split second precision.

Tragedy strikes. On a routine training mission, Maverick gets caught in the jet fuel wake of the plane in front of him. He can’t regain control, they enter a flat spin, and he ends up losing his co-pilot, Goose, in the aftermath. This all happened within a span of about a minute.

I had an episode like that this week. I made a mistake that to a passerby would seem minuscule. One that could be sloughed off as an oopsy, not a flat spin inducing one. It shifted my narrative. I started spinning a detrimental record of self-talk. I would never speak to anyone out loud the way I speak to myself in silence.

How could you do that?

What were you thinking?

You’re totally less than.

Maverick tries to get back in the game. He goes back up with a new co-pilot, but he can’t engage. When faced with what would typically be a slam dunk mission for him, he deems it no good and peels off. His co-pilot was encouraging him and reminding him of the truth of the situation; he just couldn’t engage. He had been trained to know instinctively exactly what to do, but his mind was a traffic jam unable to apply what he knew to be true.

If we don’t mentally engage in the battle of our minds, we leave ourselves wide open to missile lock. Prime targets. I couldn’t engage this week either. I have been trained to call upon the scriptures that fight like a double-edged sword against the trickery of enemy schemes (Hebrews 4:12). I have been trained to activate the power of prayer. Sometimes our training operates on a delay. We must rely on our co-pilots, the cloud of witnesses surrounding us (Hebrews 12:1), while we regain steadfastness.

Maverick learned some valuable lessons, including the importance of never leaving his wingman. Our wingman will never leave us. The Lord promised to send us a Helper, an Advocate, through the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17). He helps us engage. He helps us remember the truth and apply it. He resets our narrative.

Life can truly be a highway to the danger zone. There are myriad obstacles facing us on any given day, some overt and some sneaky like snakes requiring us to rely on our spiritual training to successfully maneuver. Flat spins can happen in a flash.

Give yourself grace. I feel that the hardest person to forgive looks back at me in the mirror. If I fight back with truth, “Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NLT). Each time. Each time we fail or are reminded of a mistake we’ve made, His grace is all we need. His power works best in our weakness, breaking the sound barrier of our disbelief.

This piece is dedicated to my husband. He has told me on more than one occasion that my mental process is completely exhausting. I can’t believe I’m putting this in print, but he’s right. Thank you, Bear, for loving me so well through this crazy life.